Skeefer
Skeefers are an intelligent species living primarily on the planet Migax. They are described as dragon-like and speak both Migaxian and Ignoseen. Physical Traits Apperance Skeefers are bipedal, dragon-shaped beings covered in soft fur, with long snouts and bat-like wings partially covered with feathers and tipped with claws.They have feathery crests at the backs of their heads alongside bat-like ears, and, in the case of the males, horns. In addition to a barbed tail, males will grow long trailing feathers from their haunches. Regardless of sex, males and females have feathers sprouting from their back legs. They can walk on four legs but often rise onto just two, as their front legs are weaker than their back ones and end in hands with opposable thumbs. Abilities They evolved to be able to manipulate betweenspace to a minimal degree, able to cloak themselves to conceal themselves from enemies and prey. However, during the Freedom War experiments run by both humans resulted in the shifting of their abilities from cloaking to the production of artrychar, a substance that could successfully hold betweenspace open. They produce artrychar through an organ in their tails which can be harnessed if the barbed tip is hooked into a Gateway. History and Culture Origin Skeefers originated on the planet Ignosee where they lived in peace for many years. They started out as a hunting species, living in large colonies which would be responsible for looking out for each other. Individual families were irrelevant, and the colony was expected to care for everyone. Thus, everyone in an individual colony had the same last title. Respect was a large part of their culture, it being paramount even from a leader to their subordinates. Acceptance was shown by giving an individual's name, and it was considered a deepest insult to say someone's name for them. Skeefers worshiped a religion known as meeskism, which was concerned with immaterial spirits known as meesks in charge of protecting the balance of nature. It was believed that when a being dies, their soul returns as a lesser meesk to protect the universe. Anthropomorphization Skeefers were exploited by humans due to their ability to manipulate betweenspace, and biologically engineered to become able to open Gateways. Other traits, such as their bright colors, were added for unknown reasons. After mass protesting which grew to a nearly revolutionary level, humans were forced to make a truce, which involved offering skeefers a place in Migaxian society. However, humans modified the brains of skeefers in order to make them think and function like humans in order to minimize the amount of cultural adaptation Migax would have to go through. Faced with complete displacement as an alternative, many skeefers chose to undergo these conditions, and thus their race was biologically altered to be closer to humans. This lead to a split between wilders and anthro-skeefers, where wilders were forced to stake out a place for themselves in set areas outside of human civilization, and anthro-skeefers lost much of their own culture. Cultural traditions such as meeskism are still kept alive by many anthro-skeefers.